According to church records, though no birth records exist William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26th 1564 at Holy Trinity Church. It is from this information that he was believed to have been born on or around April 23rd 1564.
        William was the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant and Mary Arden a local heiress. William had two older sisters, Joan and Judith and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund.
William married Anne Hathaway on November 28th 1582 in Worcester in Canterbury Province. Shakespeare was 18 and Anne was 26. Their first child Susanna was born on May 26th 1583. Two years later on February 2nd 1585 he had twins- Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet later died at age 11 for unknown causes. After the birth of the twins there are no record for the next seven years of William's life. Scholars call this the period of lost years.
        By the year 1592, there is evidence that Shakespeare most likely earned a living as an actor and playwright in London and probably had most of his plays produced by the early 1590's. Documents show that William was a managing partner in the Lord Chamberlain's Men's Company of theatrical players, a group which he was a par of from about 1594 onward. After the crowning of King James I in 1603 the company changed its name to King's Men. The company was very popular and there are records that show that Shakespeare had works published and sold as public literature. According to civil records, Shakespeare had at this time purchased the second largest house in Stratford called New House. It was a four day ride by horse from Stratford to London and so it is believed that he spent most of his time in the city and came home once a year during the forty day Lenton period when theatres were closed. By 1599, William and his business partners built their own theatre on the south bank of Thames river by which they called The Globe.
William Shakespeare's first plays were mostly historical written in the 1590's. He also wrote several comedies which include "Twelfth Night" and "A Midsummer Nights Dream". Later in his career he wrote tragedies which include "Hamlet", "King Lear" and "Macbeth".
Tradition has it that William Shakespeare died on his birthday but scholars believe it to be a myth. However, church records show that he was interned at Holy Trinity Church on April 5th 1616. In his will, most of his possessions were left to his eldest daughter Susanna and a third of his estate left to his wife Anne, who seems to have gotten little.
        Even though, one hundred and fifty years after his death questions about the authorship of his plays arose, Shakespeare was a respected man of the dramatic arts. His exceptional dramatic skills were not recognized until the 19th century and today his plays are very popular and constantly studied. Shakespeare is considered the greatest dramatist of all time and is often referred to as the English national poet.